PERHAPS LOVE
Australia, 1987, 90 minutes, Colour.
Francois Dunoyer, John Seerwin, Anne Grigg.
Directed by Lex Marinos.
Perhaps Love takes its title from the song made popular by Placido Domingo and John Denver, The film's screenplay was written by Bob Ellis - a mixture of romance and intellectual reflection. (Ellis also wrote the more biting Unfinished Business as well as Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train). This is a television co-production between the ABC and the French company Revcom. Other films made in this agreement included The Lizard King and A Matter of Convenience. The film is directed by Lex Marinos (pictured), who also directed An Indecent Obsession, Remember Me). His wife Anne Grigg is the lead star.
The film is romantic, has memories of the '60s and makes a contrast between the past and the present. The film is ambitious but turns out to be a rather routine: and the '80s and the ordinary, though interesting, love story.
1, An Australian- French co-production? The Australian perspective, the French perspective? Especially the '80s with the antagonism between France and Australia, because of Mururoa? The reflections on this in the film?
2. The title, the song, its being used, as a theme? The writing of Bob Ellis and his romantic and intellectual concerns? Comparison between the '60s and the '80s?
3. Melbourne and Sydney locations, Bali,? '68 and '86? Changes? Moods and editing, the place of the flashbacks? Songs?
4. The portrait of Annie: the '80s and herself, Jack and Philippa, the children, lifestyle? Socialist background and beliefs? The CAE class and her aggressiveness towards the students, explanation of socialism? 18 years and Patric's phone calls, her decisions, her arrangement to go to Sydney? The insertions of her memory and the build-up of her relationship with Patric? Going to Sydney, his meeting, seeing him, the effect, sharing time together, memories of love, the sexual encounter and the past memories? Jack and the phone call, the protest and the French, Patric's change of attitude? Her decision to go with, Patric by boat to the country house, sharing? Philippa and her husband, the party and the drinking, in the water? The possibilities for Annie, the phone and her return, telling the truth or not? The return to Sydney, the children and Jack? Leaving the letter and leaving? Her discovering what had really happened and her decision to stay? Her mother and the decisions? Her mother’s place in her memory? The family gathering together in the Palm Sunday peace procession? Annie of the past? The present? The future?
5. Jack and the children, the sketching of the characters, their beliefs, Jack's love for Annie, his affair with Philippa, the possibility of the break-up, reuniting?
6. Annie's mother and her hold over her? The accident in 1968, her father's death and her return?
7. Patric: 19 years and his phone call, his story of his divorce, the changing of his ideals, business? Australian and political and social attitudes? The relationship in the past, Bali, the intention to go to Katmandu? The lyrical love affair? The possibility of marriage? His love, hopes, Annie leaving him and his returning to Australia,
sharing? His not being able to give up his work?
8. Philippa and her husband, socialist causes, disillusion with the Labor Party, sharing, relationships?
9. The background of 1968 as pivotal year: the revolutionary mood of international politics, the personalities of the year, Czechoslovakia, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, Vietnam?
10. Contemporary themes of marriage, the transition from the '60s through the '70s into the '80s and the effect on the middle-aged adults of the '80s?
